Power boats commonly have a swim step or platform which is attached to or formed with the transom. Such steps or platforms extend rearwardly at the waterline from the boat transom. The swim platform facilitates boarding or exiting the boat. It further provides a seating area for swimmers and enables them to easily enter the boat from the water. Swim platforms are also used by water skiers as a staging or launch area.
More recently so-called "sky skis" have been developed. The sky ski is a water sport device for supporting a seated human rider while the rider and the device are towed behind a powered water craft. The sky ski has an elongate board to which a seat and foot holders are secured on the upper surface of the board. An elongate tee bar or strut extends downward from the board and a planing blade is secured to an arm generally parallel to the board so that the planing blade provides essentially no lift when the board is horizontal. The positioning of the seat and the planing blades at the rear of the board, the use of a single vertical tee bar or strut, the size of the planing blade and the positioning of the foot holders in front of the seat provides a water sport device which is relatively easy to ride, while at the same time being highly maneuverable and capable of high jumps while being towed behind a power boat.
An improved sky ski having a shock absorbing tower which supports the seat is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/453,658 filed Dec. 3, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.